Staff sickies slump as Brexit listed as one of the reasons ill workers don’t want to take a day off

This year the average worker took just 1.67 days off due to illness, despite suffering from three bouts of sickness

By ROBERT FISK

8th November 2016, 11:54 am

Updated: 8th November 2016, 2:25 pm

BREXIT is proving to be good for businesses as since the momentous vote on June 23 there has been a slump in workers taking “sickies”, according to a new report.

The latest research shows the number of days people are taking off for coughs, cold and flu has dropped because people are concerned about job security, letting colleagues down and Brexit.

Getty Images

Workers are now less likely to take sick days in bed and instead they choose to power through their sickness

This year the Fisherman’s Friend Cold and Flu Survey found the average worker took just 1.67 days off, despite suffering from three bouts of illness, compared to last year when the average was 1.85 days off.

The lozenge company surveyed 2,000 Britons and found 51% had not taken a day off due to minor ailments in the last year.

Only one in seven said they had taken more days off this year than they did last year, while 73.75% said they had gone to work even though they felt ill enough to stay at home.

When those who had taken less time off for sickness than last year (three out of 10 workers) were asked why, a quarter said they had not wanted to let colleagues down, one in five were concerned about job security and one in 12 mentioned uncertainty after the EU referendum.

Brexit was more likely to be reason for men taking fewer days off compared to women (12.73% of men compared to 4.85% of women).

SACK THE SILKS

The survey also found younger workers were most concerned about Brexit (12.57% of 25 to 34-year-olds) while workers over 55 were least likely to take days off because of it (3.03%).

Mail Online reports Northern Ireland took the title of most sick days with its workers taking an average of 2.8 days.

And workers in the North East had the fewest average number of days off at 1.35.

Fisherman’s Friend spokesman Rob Metcalfe spokesman said: “Despite last year’s rise in the number of days off for the first time in eight years, this year’s Fisherman’s Friend Cold and Flu Survey once again shows that workers’ concerns are real and have an impact on attitudes towards taking time off work to recover from illness,” said.

Getty Images

According to the Fisherman's Friend survey women are more concerned than men about letting their colleagues down

“As there was no difference between how men and women voted in the EU referendum, we were surprised to find that women appear much less concerned by the potential effects of Brexit than men.

“However, as they appear to be more concerned than their male counterparts about letting colleagues down, it could be that they’re just more willing to move onto new challenges that they can have a more immediate influence on.

“Nevertheless, whatever the motivation for workers’ concerns when ill, what is clear is that more than eight out of 10 of us will have suffered with a cough, cold or flu on at least one occasion in the last year, showing how important it is for workers to manage their symptoms if they want to power through when suffering with minor ailments.”